Patriotically Going Into The Military
Now to write what I came here to write.
I'm listening to an Audible Original presentation called "Strong Ending: From Combat to Comedy." It's really very good. Not sure how someone who is not an Audible customer can get at it, but it is both entertaining and informative.
It's like a documentary. It focuses on vets of the Afghan and Iraq wars and how they deal with their PTSD or other issues by learning how to do stand up comedy.
Part of the introduction of each vet in the piece is hearing them say that they joined up because they were patriotic and saw serving as what a patriot would do.
And I listen to that part of their stories, and I think, "Wow! That never occurred to me."
I enlisted in the Air Force to avoid being drafted. It was June of 1969, and I had just lost my student deferment. (Turns out you had to go to class to stay in college. Who knew?) I was also pretty newly married with a child on the way. Because I was now 1-A for the draft, which meant Next Up, so I couldn't get any sort of job. No one wanted to hire someone they would have to offer a job two in two or three years when he got out. That was how it worked.
So, I picked the Air Force in order to avoid being drafted into the Army and sent to Vietnam. That didn't work, but I won't talk about that here. (It might actually be in one of the older posts in this blog I you're interested.) Patriotism did not factor into my decision at all. If I go into the service, my wife has medical care for her pregnancy and baby's birth. I had to go anyway, might as well help my incipient family while I did it.
Of course, in 1969 there wasn't a lot of patriotism going around. Most of the flag wavers I knew at the time I viewed with suspicion. Perhaps I was more of a skeptical patriot than an anti-patriot, but I did not believe in the saying "My country right or wrong." Sorry Mom. I know you did. And in terms of dealing with most civilians, we who wore the uniform were viewed with fear and suspicion. It was not uncommon for higher command to suggest to us that we NOT wear our uniforms off base or while traveling. (I was never treated rudely, but I was accosted more than once. Some people felt empowered to make me account for my actions and the actions of the entire Department of Defense. (People! I'm so low on the totem pole, I have to crawl up to see dirt.))
Actually being in the military made me more patriotic. Going through the rituals of Reveille and Retreat daily, standing formations, seeing others get awarded medals for their work, gave me reasons for being somewhat patriotic. I was one of those people who ended up serving for my buddies (I guess they're called battle buddies today). I never served for God, Country, or Flag. I did, and do, take my oath of enlistment seriously ("...to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States from all Enemies, foreign and domestic..."). All the rest of this stuff is just bullshit to me. Sorry if that offends you. (No, no I'm not sorry. Deal with it.)
But back to why I went. It was more controversial where I grew up to NOT go than to go. We didn't really know at that time that the government was lying to us. Yes, the anti-war protestors said they were lying, but they provided no credible evidence. The Pentagon Papers were not released until 1971, and like a lot of charges and counter charges the truth got mixed up with the noise (kinda sounds like today, eh?). The few people who knew the truth either died without talking or, like Robert McNamara talked only decades later at the end of their lives.
None of this has made me feel more patriotic. I get misty-eyed when I think of the good men I served under and with who died or who were so messed up by their experiences that death might have seemed preferable to the destinies they faced. That's not for me to say. What is for me to say is that we who served were people good and true who fought with each and for each other, and those who did not die in the fighting would have died in place of any of those who did.
I don't think that's what y'all mean by patriotism, but that's the best I've got for any of you.
I'm listening to an Audible Original presentation called "Strong Ending: From Combat to Comedy." It's really very good. Not sure how someone who is not an Audible customer can get at it, but it is both entertaining and informative.
It's like a documentary. It focuses on vets of the Afghan and Iraq wars and how they deal with their PTSD or other issues by learning how to do stand up comedy.
Part of the introduction of each vet in the piece is hearing them say that they joined up because they were patriotic and saw serving as what a patriot would do.
And I listen to that part of their stories, and I think, "Wow! That never occurred to me."
I enlisted in the Air Force to avoid being drafted. It was June of 1969, and I had just lost my student deferment. (Turns out you had to go to class to stay in college. Who knew?) I was also pretty newly married with a child on the way. Because I was now 1-A for the draft, which meant Next Up, so I couldn't get any sort of job. No one wanted to hire someone they would have to offer a job two in two or three years when he got out. That was how it worked.
So, I picked the Air Force in order to avoid being drafted into the Army and sent to Vietnam. That didn't work, but I won't talk about that here. (It might actually be in one of the older posts in this blog I you're interested.) Patriotism did not factor into my decision at all. If I go into the service, my wife has medical care for her pregnancy and baby's birth. I had to go anyway, might as well help my incipient family while I did it.
Of course, in 1969 there wasn't a lot of patriotism going around. Most of the flag wavers I knew at the time I viewed with suspicion. Perhaps I was more of a skeptical patriot than an anti-patriot, but I did not believe in the saying "My country right or wrong." Sorry Mom. I know you did. And in terms of dealing with most civilians, we who wore the uniform were viewed with fear and suspicion. It was not uncommon for higher command to suggest to us that we NOT wear our uniforms off base or while traveling. (I was never treated rudely, but I was accosted more than once. Some people felt empowered to make me account for my actions and the actions of the entire Department of Defense. (People! I'm so low on the totem pole, I have to crawl up to see dirt.))
Actually being in the military made me more patriotic. Going through the rituals of Reveille and Retreat daily, standing formations, seeing others get awarded medals for their work, gave me reasons for being somewhat patriotic. I was one of those people who ended up serving for my buddies (I guess they're called battle buddies today). I never served for God, Country, or Flag. I did, and do, take my oath of enlistment seriously ("...to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States from all Enemies, foreign and domestic..."). All the rest of this stuff is just bullshit to me. Sorry if that offends you. (No, no I'm not sorry. Deal with it.)
But back to why I went. It was more controversial where I grew up to NOT go than to go. We didn't really know at that time that the government was lying to us. Yes, the anti-war protestors said they were lying, but they provided no credible evidence. The Pentagon Papers were not released until 1971, and like a lot of charges and counter charges the truth got mixed up with the noise (kinda sounds like today, eh?). The few people who knew the truth either died without talking or, like Robert McNamara talked only decades later at the end of their lives.
None of this has made me feel more patriotic. I get misty-eyed when I think of the good men I served under and with who died or who were so messed up by their experiences that death might have seemed preferable to the destinies they faced. That's not for me to say. What is for me to say is that we who served were people good and true who fought with each and for each other, and those who did not die in the fighting would have died in place of any of those who did.
I don't think that's what y'all mean by patriotism, but that's the best I've got for any of you.
posted by Tom | 10:51 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home